Automatic stoker.



D. T. WILLIAMS. AUTOMAT'IC STOKER.

APPLICATION IILED NOV.25,1913.

Patent-,ed 1190.111914.

D. T. WILLIAMS.

AUTOMATIC STOKER.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 25, 1913.

Patented Dec. 8, 1914 3 kSHEETS-SHEET Z.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 8, 1914 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

D. T. WILLIAMS AUTOMATIC STUKER.

, APPLICATION F1121) NOV. 25, 1913 1,120,174.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID T. WILLIAMS, F PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD STOKER COMPANY, INC., OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION 0F DELAWARE.

AUTOMATIC STOKER.

Specification 0f Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 8, 1914.

To all whom t may concern 1 Be it known that I, DAvm T. WILLIAiwrs,

a subject of the King of England, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Stokers, of which .the following is a specification.

My invention relates particularly to that type of automatic stoking equipment for railway locomotives in which the means to convey forward the fuel to the furnace includes a trough or conveyer in the locomotive tender and suitable means, such as a screw, for advancing the fuel through the trough, and it consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts whereby the general efficiency of the apparatus 1s increased and, in particular, Jamming of the fuel in the bunker is prevented, the fireman is given ample unobstructed standing room at the forward part of the tender and 1s protected from the moving parts,and the power necessary to drive the advancing means is economized.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a locomotive tender and the part of -the stoking equipment comprised therein in longitudinal central section; Fig. 2 shows the tender and said part of the stoking equipment one-half in front elevation and one-half in vertical transverse section on substantially the line xin Fig. l; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view. on substantially the line g/-y in Fig. 1; and, Fig. 4 shows one of the cover sections for the trough or conveyer.

The essential features of my invention may be briefly stated as follows:

In the said drawings, a designates the body of a locomotive tender, b the waterspace therein and c the tool-boxes, placed as usual at the front or open end of the tender body.

d designates the bunker or bin of the tender, overlying the water-space b and in the resent instance having' its bottom formed 1n part by the forwardly inclined wall e andv in part by the walls f each inclined from the sides of the tender body toward the central vertical plane thereof, where they meet the upper edges of a centrally located, longitudinally arranged, semi-cylindrical trough `g which may be supported in any suitable manner, say by the bulk-heads z extending crosswise of the tender body, and which reaches from the rear edges of said walls f past the front edges thereof to the front end of the tender. Between the tool-boxes and extending forward from the front edges of the walls f is a deck or platform z' having an opening jto expose the trough (whose sides foi-ward of said Walls f rise to meet the platform), the same being provided with a removable cover la.

In suitably supported bearings Z is journaled the screw m forming a part of the means for advancing the coal from the tender to the locomotive, the same being sub-f stantially coextensive in length with the length of the trough and being arranged horizontally in the trough and of such diameter that for so much of the length thereof as extends fromthe front to the rear edges of the walls f its upper half (more or less) projects out of the trough, the remainder thereof extending under the deck or platform z'. v

' n is that one of the walls of the bunker affording lateral support to the fuel which in the present case constitutes the front wall of the bunker. It is arranged approximately coincident with the front edges of the Walls f but it is designed to leave a space or outlet o between its lower edge and the platform z'.

y) (Fig. 4) designates one of a plurality of cover sections for the trough, the same consisting of a part-cylindrical sheet having exterior longitudinal flanges g arranged somewhat spaced from its straight edges, so that the plate may be fitted over the trough and kept in position by the angular portions thus formed by its flanges and straight edges receivingv the angular junctures of the walls f and the sides of the trough (see Fig. 2). Each of these cover sections preferably has a hole r at one end to re eive a hook whereby it may be drawn forward or removed. Its arched or part cylindrical shape gives it increased strength.

When the bin or bunker is filled the cover sections are first laced las shown in full lines in Fig. l. f the bin is filled to its capacity there may be at first a tendency for the coal to pack adjacent to the wall n, forml cover sections 77 would keep the screw lwell 110 supplied, working downwardly as its mass is gradually reduced by the forwarding action of the screw). If so, the cover lc is removed so as to allow the coal escaping through the outlet 0 to reach the screw forward of the jam or arch-formation, keeping the same supplied (with coal that cannot pack and jam. because not influenced by any material weight) until, the downward pressure over the iam becoming materially reduced, the jam is broken and the coal commences to enter into the influence ofthe screw relatively back of the wall n in the regular Way.

Thereupon the cover is replaced. As the body of coal continues to be depleted the cover sections are successively removed, so that only a part of the body of coal at a time is imposed upon the screw, the remainder being held up out of reach thereof, so as not to obstruct its rotation; the removal of the cover sections may be accomplished by the fireman engaging a suitable hook in the eye or hole 1' of the Section and drawing it forward (see broken lines, Fig. l).

ln view of the foregoing it will be apparent that in the use of the hereindescribed mechanism a constant feed or advance of the fuel may be maintained wholly automatically excepting in so far as the assistance of the fireman is needed to draw a cover section forward when the part of the coal body previously exposed to the action of the screw has become exhausted. That, moreover, a very large part of the resistance otherwise offered to the rotation of the screw, and the consequent strain on the advancing means and waste of power to drive the same, are reduced to the minimum, in part because the opportunities for the screw becoming clogged by the coal are greatly minimized and in part because the screw is at no time supporting a load of coal materially disproportionate to its capacity. Further, that a standing place is afforded for the fireman, for the convenient performance 0f his work in and about the tender, the same being elevated above and therefore unobstructed by the screw, the element of danger to the fireman being substantially eliminated because the screw is or may be always covered.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by U. S. Letters Patent is 1, In combination, a locomotive tender having a forward deck and a fuelpbunker back of said deck, a trough extending under the deck and forming a depressed part of the bunker, and a rotary fuel advancing screw extending in said trough from a point below the bunker forward under the deck, said screw projecting above the longitudinal margins of the trough in the part thereof which is under the bunker..

2. In combination, a tender having a fuel bunker and a deck outwardly adjoining one lateral wall of said bunker, and means extending under the fuel body and deck for removing an underlying part yof the fuel through the plane of said wall, said wall being spaced from said means above and thereby affording an outlet for the fuel over said means and the deck having an opening over said means.

3. 1n combination, a tender having a fuel bunker and a deck outwardly adjoining one lateral wall of said bunker, means extending under the fuel body and deck for removing an underlying part of the fuel through the plane of said wall, said wall being spaced from said means above and thereby affording an outlet for the fuel over said means and the deck having an opening over said means, and a removable cover for the deck opening.

l. In a fuel holding and delivering organism of an automatic stoking mechanism, the combination of a fuel bunker having a trough forming a part of the bottom thereof, means for moving the part of the fuel body contained in the trough longitudinally of the trough and an arched fuel support covering a part and exposing upwardly the remainder of said trough, and movable longitudinally of the latter.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

D'AVID T. WILLIAMS.

lllitnesses CHARLES (l. STRANAHAN, HOWARD A. Fox. 

